Sunday, September 22, 2013

Great and humble

“Anyone
with a disability should focus on what they can do and not regret what they
cannot do.”

This inspirational advice comes from a man who
knows suffering more than most of us. I am talking about wheelchair-bound
British cosmologist Stephen Hawking who was diagnosed with motor neurone
disease at 21 and was told he had two years to live. He is now 71 and manages
to communicate via a cheek muscle linked to a sensor and computerised voice
system.

He told the BBC recently, “Theoretical physics is
one field where being disabled is not a handicap. It is all in the mind.”

Many scientists have made prodigious contributions
to humanity and yet remained humble.

Prolific inventor Thomas Alva Edison once realised
that his room was in a mess. The sweeper had not reported for duty. Edison saw
his young assistant standing nearby and asked him to tidy up the room. When the
youth refused saying it was below his dignity, Edison apologised, picked up a
broom and quietly cleaned the room himself.

Albert Einstein died after refusing surgery,
saying, “I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially.
I have done my share, it is time to go elegantly.”